Just driven a 6 series V8, and I have some questions...

[GaryST220]

Beautiful car, really beautiful, but I have two concerns which I hope someone can address.

With the gearbox in drive, and on wide open throttle, the gearbox didn’t seem to respond very well. I was expecting it to jump to the lowest possible gear and shoot me off; instead it dropped one cog (slowly I might add), accelerated a little more, and then jumped down another cog before the revs finally picked up. The whole process was quite jerky, not very fast and quite annoying. Is this car working as intended?

Secondly when in “drive sport”, I thought it would retain the gear which would return the maximum acceleration, this one didn’t. So when I lifted off the accelerator the car jumped into a higher gear, I don't need to explain why this is bad. The manual gearshift was also very slow.

Regarding straight line performance, the figures look good on paper, but even when I did get the car to the redline it didn’t feel as fast as I thought it should - a testament to the refinement and comfort perhaps? Either way the performance was definitely there because it was incredibly daunting trying to make good progress in the wet, these Potenza’s are awful.

[okgo]

You're aware it has a level at the bottom of the accelerator travel which if you feel it click past it will kick down to the lowest gear possible? Even my E39 does that!

[Olf]

GaryST220 said:

Secondly when in “drive sport”, I thought it would retain the gear which would return the maximum acceleration, this one didn’t. So when I lifted off the accelerator the car jumped into a higher gear, I don't need to explain why this is bad.

Sounds right to me. As soon as you lift off they will take a higher gear.

[bazking69]

It's a conventional auto not an automated manual box. It'll never be a quick shift, even in manual and sport mode. Sport mode will make it marginally quicker, but at the expense of smoothness. Also, being automated, it'll still do what the hell it wants to occasionally.

[GaryST220]

okgo said:

You're aware it has a level at the bottom of the accelerator travel which if you feel it click past it will kick down to the lowest gear possible? Even my E39 does that!

Yep, pedal on the bulkhead, wide open throttle.

[edo]

Think you need to drive another to compare - could be a faulty gearbox (£££££)

[bp1]

Mine will drop 2-3 cogs depending on what speed your already doing when you WOT, from 20 or so if you floor it you should get pushed back into the seat. And the noise is

[GaryST220]

bp1 said:

Mine will drop 2-3 cogs depending on what speed your already doing when you WOT, from 20 or so if you floor it you should get pushed back into the seat. And the noise is

I tried it from 20, once its going its ok but it just didn't want to change down in a hurry. Could DSC have been interfering? It was certainly working hard, and you could smell the rear brakes when I parked it up.

[RalphK]

Olf said:

GaryST220 said:

Secondly when in “drive sport”, I thought it would retain the gear which would return the maximum acceleration, this one didn’t. So when I lifted off the accelerator the car jumped into a higher gear, I don't need to explain why this is bad.

Sounds right to me. As soon as you lift off they will take a higher gear.

I think he means to hold the gear when in sport mode - so that when making progress gears will be held (for instance around a corner) rather than the gearbox hunting around when you are trying to balance the car on the throttle

[GaryST220]

RalphK said:

Olf said:

GaryST220 said:

Secondly when in “drive sport”, I thought it would retain the gear which would return the maximum acceleration, this one didn’t. So when I lifted off the accelerator the car jumped into a higher gear, I don't need to explain why this is bad.

Sounds right to me. As soon as you lift off they will take a higher gear.

I think he means to hold the gear when in sport mode - so that when making progress gears will be held (for instance around a corner) rather than the gearbox hunting around when you are trying to balance the car on the throttle

Thats my point. In a manual car you'd enter the corner in the gear which will give you the most acceleration out of the corner, in this case the car jumped up a gear or two as I turned in, so on the exit it has to gear down again.

[Big Rod]

There's a good chance it'll have a semi intelligent ECU which will adapt to your demands.

I had an auto a few years ago and it took a while until I was happy with it's shift patterns.

[GaryST220]

Big Rod said:

There's a good chance it'll have a semi intelligent ECU which will adapt to your demands.

I had an auto a few years ago and it took a while until I was happy with it's shift patterns.

Possibly. I accept automatics may not be as responsive or as fun as a proper manual, but I think I could adapt to it considering the overall package.

[mr_tony]

AS others ahve said, the kick down comes when you push past the 'sticking' point on the throttle. Be more aggressive.

As for the auto box, well it's an auto box in a large car made to cruise - not a sports car so you will probably have to live with it..

If you select the sports mode on the suspension on iDrive and set the sports button on the shift, then it's about as sporty as you're going to get basically..

[OllieWinchester]

This thread sums up the reasons I never seem to be able to get on with auto boxes...

Hateful things, only good for wafting along.

[homerjay]

OllieWinchester said:

This thread sums up the reasons I never seem to be able to get on with auto boxes...

Hateful things, only good for wafting along.

agreed, all standard autos are just horrible.

[Matt UK]

Olf said:

GaryST220 said:

Secondly when in “drive sport”, I thought it would retain the gear which would return the maximum acceleration, this one didn’t. So when I lifted off the accelerator the car jumped into a higher gear, I don't need to explain why this is bad.

Sounds right to me. As soon as you lift off they will take a higher gear.

That's not the case in my old e39 530i.

If you are in Sport setting and lift off the accelerator it will hold that gear and not jump straight into a higher gear. It will hold for quite a few seconds antisipating you getting back on the power. If you don't get back on the power for a few seconds and it gets the message and only then drops down a gear.

[Trommel]

homerjay said:

OllieWinchester said:

This thread sums up the reasons I never seem to be able to get on with auto boxes...

Hateful things, only good for wafting along.

agreed, all standard autos are just horrible.

Complete nonsense.

[coley20]

okgo said:

You're aware it has a level at the bottom of the accelerator travel which if you feel it click past it will kick down to the lowest gear possible? Even my E39 does that!

Did you click the pedal past this point though???????

[Davie_GLA]

okgo said:

You're aware it has a level at the bottom of the accelerator travel which if you feel it click past it will kick down to the lowest gear possible? Even my E39 does that!

You sure about this? I was always sure that this was to cancel the speed limiter?

[Swarley]

Davie_GLA said:

okgo said:

You're aware it has a level at the bottom of the accelerator travel which if you feel it click past it will kick down to the lowest gear possible? Even my E39 does that!

You sure about this? I was always sure that this was to cancel the speed limiter?

No that's just on Mercedes